Lewis plugs £200 million brownfield land scheme to get England building

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Housing Minister Brandon Lewis is encouraging councils across the country to team up with developers and bid for government assistance to build thousands of new homes on previously-developed land.

Lewis (photo) today published the bidding criteria for a share of £200 million that will help create 10 'housing zones' on brownfield land where it will be easier to build new homes quickly.

Gill Payne, director of policy and external affairs at the National Housing Federation said: "We welcome the release of the prospectus for housing zones across England. These offer local authorities and their partners including housing associations a real opportunity to overcome barriers to the delivery of much needed new homes across the country."

The new zones, which will be outside London, should be large enough to deliver 750 to 2,000 properties, and will complement plans for 20 new housing zones in the capital. A separate bidding process for £400m from the government and the mayor is already underway.

The Department for Communities and Local Government said that across the country there is enough brownfield land to deliver up to 200,000 new homes, and ministers expect to see planning permissions covering 90% of this land to be in place by 2020.

Lewis said: "We need to build more homes in this country, but it’s also vital we protect the countryside that people rightly treasure. That’s why the government is offering councils a share of £200 million to prioritise development on brownfield land. The new dedicated housing zones will transform disused and derelict land, and ensure the new homes are built quickly in a process that is more straightforward for councils and builders."